2640. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 23 July 1815

So we have got (not caught) him at last, – & what the Devil shall we do with him? [1] – Do you ever see the Monthly Magazine? Sir Rich. Phillips says that after the Battle of Waterloo Buonaparte continued his retreat to Paris, & soon after ‘magnanimously sacrificed himself a second time to the welfare
interests of his country!” [2] – Strictly enough he will not be kept in England, – perhaps not safely
enough, & it is provoking that we should be plagued with keeping him at all. The right course would be to transfer him to
Louis, [3] if he had courage enough to
put him to death.

The Courier talks well about what ought to be done in France. [4] I suspect that its tone is influenced by Wordsworths conversation intercourse with Stuart; – still I hope that it accords
with the meaning of Ministers, for otherwise it would hardly appear in that paper. – I cannot understand Louis’s conduct toward Fouche
& Carnot, [5] & incline to think that Wellington should
{not} have let the army leave Paris, but have treated them with a few rockets & shells from time to time till they submitted
at discretion.

[4] The
Courier on 19 July 1815 had advocated: the ‘punishment’ of Napoleon; that France should pay all the costs of the
war in 1815 and return all looted works of art to their country of origin; and that France should lose Alsace and Lorraine, among
other territories. BACK

[5] Two old Jacobins: Joseph Fouché (1759–1820), who was Chief of Police under
Napoleon 1804–1810 and 1815. Louis XVIII retained him in this role for a few months in 1815; Lazare Carnot (1753–1823), member of
Committee of Public Safety 1793–1794, Member of the Directory 1795–1797 and Minister of the Interior March-June 1815. Banished later
in 1815. Both were members of the 5-man Commission of Government that was briefly the executive authority in France 22 June-7 July
1815. BACK